New Ulm weekly review. [volume] (New Ulm, Minn.) 1878-1892, 1887-07-13

| NY 9iCh t1Au AalHL. xallu my LUIS Ddlu--
my good, patient, loving husband
had gone over that perilous road with
my cruel words rim ing in his ears e
could bear it no longer. Timid as I
was. I would rather face the darkness
outside than my own thoughts and
fears sitting there in the house. Throw
ing a shawl over my head / took Alb
ner's pistol in my hand and started out.
It was very dark, but the rain had not
begun as yet, although the air was
heavy with moisture. Trembling but
resolute hurried across the road and
stepped up on the narrow board down
which my husband had gone. /, whose
unsteady nerves and giddy head made
me grow faint and dizzy on the slight
est Proyoc cation, was going to do what
many strong men shrunk from walk
I the fume. Just before our house my
path lay close to the ground, but I
| knew, only too well, how soon the I'M
even earth receded and left that mar
row, slippery plank amongst the tree
tops, or, worse vet, stretching across
| yaWning CULTS where the mountain
stones and massive boulders hundreds
Of feet below and there slip, mis-
step, and death, and such death
was certain.
Had Abner slipped or Stun bled in such
a place? That deadening fear made me
insensible almost to any other terror,
and. holding smy lantern in front of
me that / might see the board and
nothing else, I walked steadily onward.
Once my dress caught upon bit of
wood on the side of the fume and
| pulled me back, but did not lose my
| footing. As stopped to unfasten it,
however, caught, sideways glimpse
OF the white road, and saw that it was
far below, but | kept on. Soon the
top of q tall redwood brushed my feet.
felt then, that had the moon shone
out brightly SO that [ could not help
| seeing around and beneath me, I could
| no longer have kept upon the dizzy
| height. But I would not allow myself
| to pause, or even to think of the danger
i was in. Step, after step, step after
| step, and then, once more the white road
lay beside me, silent and deserted,
| winding around the cliff and losing
! itself in the sharp curve beyond: Past
| that curve knew lay the worst part Of
my fearsome journey the worst ravine
on all Abner's section. I often looked
across to the fume trembling, as we
| drove by on the road, and thought how
like a bit of SPIDERS web it seemed,
| thrown across that dreadful chasm..
And here, tonight, I was to walk asross
! that frail structure alone. For an in
slant / faltered. and then, setting my
teeth and thinking the prayer could
not speak, I went straight ahead
| This was the last ravine there was to
cross and the rest of the section was
easy walking, not over five feet from
the ground in any place, with houses
here and there as one came near the
| Greek.
The mist had thickened until my
lantern only showed the board little
bit beyond my feet. I held tight the
fiume, bending over to get frmer
hold, and crept around, and then sud-
denly, my heart leaped and then
sank at the sight! saw something
ahead Of me black, crumpled-up heap
on the board stretching up and into
| the fume and knew that / had found
my husband.
| Was he alive or dead? Alive, thank
Heaven! though in dead faint, with
his poor hands clenched so tightly on
| the fume-side that they held him there
in safety still.
What should I do? The least move
ment he might make in coming to him-
would send him down on the cruel
rocks so far beneath | put my hand
into the hume. 1t was empty save for
a little water standing at the bottom,
and my only chance of saving my hus-
bands life lay in getting him in there.
How did it do not know. Despera.
ton gave me strenth, and I managed
| some way to lift him, big and unwield-
" as he was, over the edge and into
safety; but in doing so one Of his feet
struck the lantern, and it went tun1b-
| ling down into the bank of mist below
trust myself on the board now. So !
climbed over into the fune and
crouched down at Abner's head. He
did not move nor make sound; only
the faint beating Of his heart showed
that he was not dead. Lying there in
the water might even stop that. !
could not afford time or strength to cry
II must work.
Taking my shawl | cut it in three
long strips with Abner's knife, and tied
them together. Then, tugging and
I.straining with all my might | tied it
| firmly around him beneath his arms,
and the ends I tied around myself, and
then, slowly and painfully / began to
drag him along the hume The water
| in the bottom buoyed him up a little.
! and hOldinu by the sides worked nv
way along sometimes on foot and
sometimes on my knees-inch by inch,
until 1 saw the road close bes; de us and
knew that the terrible ravine was
| crossed at last.
There was a house near by and ]
tried to call for help, but my voice was
gone. I thought of the pistol and fired
| off one shot after another until I saw
lights and heard voices coming toward
us, and then quietly gave up and faint